Thursday, March 14, 2019

Paul Haggis Drops Appeal of Lawsuit Against Sexual Assault Accuser

Paul Haggis has withdrawn his appeal of the decision to dismiss the lawsuit he filed against the woman who accused him of sexual assault.

According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Haggis is dropping the dismissal claim he filed last year but he is continuing his fight against the separate lawsuit his accuser, Haleigh Breest, filed against him.

Breest’s attorney, Ilann M. Maazel, said in a statement, “Mr. Haggis’ lawsuit against Haleigh Breest was a disgrace. It was in our view an attempt to silence and intimidate Ms. Breest, and it failed. Mr. Haggis should never have sued Ms. Breest in the first place, and we are pleased that he finally gave up.”

As The Blast first reported, Haggis claimed that an attorney for Breest approached him in 2017 claiming that he committed an act of “gender violence” against her five years prior.

The “Crash” director says that during a phone call a few weeks later, the attorney demanded a payment of $9,000,000.

Paul Haggis filed his lawsuit before Breest came forward, saying he has been on the receiving end of many false accusations stemming from his criticisms of Scientology. Because of that, he said he “is not going to allow the false narrative threatened by the Defendant to frighten him into capitulating to these outrageous and wholly baseless demands, and is instead going to confront his accuser and seek all available remedies for the harm she has inflicted (and intends to continue to inflict) on him.”

His case was eventually dismissed last July and he filed an appeal, which he has now dropped.

Breest eventually sued and Haggis responded by saying “that all sexual activity and interactions between the parties were consensual.”